3 minutes ago, Vee said:

presumably one of Marcus' relatives (Ellis Marcus),

Ellis was her husband. He wrote for many shows in the '50's and '60's, including "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." and "Mission: Impossible." Her brother, Raymond Goldstone, wrote for several soaps, often under his sister, including LIAMST, SFT, DAYS, GH, FALCON CREST, KNOTS LANDING and RITUALS; and her brother-in-law, Marc Daniels, was the original director for "I Love Lucy" and the one who suggested Vivian Vance for Ethel.

Edited yesterday at 02:16 AM1 day by Khan

21 minutes ago, Khan said:

Ellis was her husband. He wrote for many shows in the '50's and '60's, including "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." and "Mission: Impossible." Her brother, Raymond Goldstone, wrote for several soaps, often under his sister, including LIAMST, SFT, DAYS, GH, FALCON CREST, KNOTS LANDING and RITUALS; and her brother-in-law, Marc Daniels, was the original director for "I Love Lucy" and the one who suggested Vivian Vance for Ethel.

I never knew that. How fascinating. I should have finished her memoir.

On 12/25/2025 at 9:50 PM, DRW50 said:

Sad knowing this would be the last moment for Leslie and Laura for a long time. I wonder if they knew Denise was leaving by this point. Her "death" seemed very sudden.

It was sudden, and they didn’t know until it happened in 1984. Denise wanted time off, and IIRC a guarantee they would not work her more than 3 days a week. She was pretty much exhausted. From her We Love Soaps interview she said what they objected to was the time limits. They had a huge story they wanted to play with a trial about Mike I think, and they didn’t want the restriction. So they threw more money at her. And she and her agent/lawyer declined, which made someone at ABC above Monty pissed thinking she was being ungrateful. So they stopped talking to one another and she said nobody was happy how it ultimately went down. But she got her time off which ended up being great for her.

On 12/25/2025 at 9:50 PM, DRW50 said:

This is framed so much as our final goodbye for L&L, yet they return (briefly) later in 1984. I guess the ratings were slipping and Genie and Tony needed the cash. I can't remember if they even show in in Port Charles.

Tony was there for a couple of months, I think at least 6 weeks, Genie for a couple of days. Which she did as a favor to Monty and Geary. I am sure they were well paid. It also helped set up Frisco and Felicia, it was kind of a passing of the torch to the next super couple. I don’t think they ever landed in PC either that trip. Laura did tell Like she was pregnant with Lucas Lorenzo Spencer Junior, who ended up being nicknamed Lucky before we met him.

21 hours ago, Vee said:

Also on staff is quite an array: JER, Guza, presumably one of Marcus' relatives (Ellis Marcus), Gene Palumbo and a Soderberg, among others. People often forget Guza and Pratt both had a history at the show dating back to its heyday, for better or worse.

JER fits more for me at GH more than he did at Y&R! 1987 is a pretty good year from what I remember. I know the Grant Putnam story kicks off, which is in my personal GH top ten.

7 minutes ago, titan1978 said:

JER fits more for me at GH more than he did at Y&R! 1987 is a pretty good year from what I remember. I know the Grant Putnam story kicks off, which is in my personal GH top ten.

I still am trying to understand what exactly happened with Jimmy Lee, Celia and his future wife and when. Were Jimmy Lee and Charity ever actually together onscrene before they went off together? Why did they write Celia out and how did it seemingly happen so suddenly?

14 minutes ago, Vee said:

I still am trying to understand what exactly happened with Jimmy Lee, Celia and his future wife and when. Were Jimmy Lee and Charity ever actually together onscrene before they went off together? Why did they write Celia out and how did it seemingly happen so suddenly?

I'm assuming Sherilyn Wolter had a three-year contract. She debuted on Thursday, March 17, 1983, and had her last episode on Wednesday, Feb. 26, 1986.

They spent more than two years building to Jimmy Lee and Celia finally getting together, and then they only had a half-year marriage. The wedding was on Friday, Aug. 16, 1985. On Friday, Feb. 21, 1986, Celia misunderstood a compromising situation between Jimmy Lee and another woman that was orchestrated between Sean and one of the lesser Cassadines.

As for Jimmy Lee and Charity, she was introduced on Wednesday, July 30, 1986. She and Jimmy Lee met in late November, and had sex not long after (which is something that never happened between Alan and Charity). By mid-December, Jimmy Lee wanted to marry Charity, and they ended up doing so just before Christmas. Their last episode was Wednesday, Dec. 31, 1986.

I wonder if Steve Bond had a one-year contact, followed by a three-year, or a three-year, followed by a one-year extension. He apparently debuted right at the start of 1983.

15 minutes ago, Franko said:

As for Jimmy Lee and Charity, she was introduced on Wednesday, July 30, 1986. She and Jimmy Lee met in late November, and had sex not long after (which is something that never happened between Alan and Charity). By mid-December, Jimmy Lee wanted to marry Charity, and they ended up doing so just before Christmas. Their last episode was Wednesday, Dec. 31, 1986.

Thanks for all this. That is a crazy timeframe.

Did Celia leave Jimmy Lee because he was suddenly poor, or because of that setup?

Just now, Vee said:

Thanks for all this. That is a crazy timeframe.

Did Celia leave Jimmy Lee because he was suddenly poor, or because of that setup?

It was the setup. Celia had come to tell Jimmy Lee that she was getting more money from her dad Quentin, which would have helped them out on a personal level, but not really helped Edward-Alan-Jimmy Lee. Once Celia thought she saw Jimmy Lee fooling around, it was all over.

Re-reading the summaries, it feels like they either didn't have much of a plan for Jimmy Lee/Steve Bond beyond the Sean swindles the Quartermaines story (and with respect to Steve, he's the weakest player in it), or they did have plans that didn't really ignite (like Jimmy Lee ending up with Sandy, daughter of Buzz Stryker, who lost his tenuous relevance once Anna-Duke caught on).

Yeah, Buzz Stryker is also a strange character to me. Everyone seems super into him for awhile and then you never hear of him again. Were all of these Monty initiatives or did some come later?

As far as I can tell, this was all still Monty. She was executive producer until early 1987, when H. Wesley Kenney took over.

I'm tempted to watch all of GH from 1986-87, the transition from Monty into Kenney and the decline of the show's time at No. 1.

Random side note: in retrospect, it's amazing that Lucy's hung on as long as she did. She could have easily gone the way of, say, Laura Templeton, being part of a big story and then not having much relevance after.

4 minutes ago, Franko said:

Random side note: in retrospect, it's amazing that Lucy's hung on as long as she did. She could have easily gone the way of, say, Laura Templeton, being part of a big story and then not having much relevance after.

That's all Lynn.

2 minutes ago, Franko said:

Random side note: in retrospect, it's amazing that Lucy's hung on as long as she did. She could have easily gone the way of, say, Laura Templeton, being part of a big story and then not having much relevance after.

Especially because she was tied to the Laurelton storyline, which was considered a bust. I think she survived because she could do sexy and funny, and was believable as a schemer and the show needed those kinds of characters to keep things moving. Her chemistry with Scotty helped, and various writing teams knew where to use her- manipulative married to Tony, affair with Alan, scheming with Scotty. Lynn was also a very dynamic actor that had chemistry with a lot of people.

21 minutes ago, Vee said:

That's all Lynn.

20 minutes ago, titan1978 said:

Especially because she was tied to the Laurelton storyline, which was considered a bust. I think she survived because she could do sexy and funny, and was believable as a schemer and the show needed those kinds of characters to keep things moving. Her chemistry with Scotty helped, and various writing teams knew where to use her- manipulative married to Tony, affair with Alan, scheming with Scotty. Lynn was also a very dynamic actor that had chemistry with a lot of people.

Indeed. Lynn's always been one of my favorites. (As a kid, I thought she was the most beautiful woman on TV.)

1 hour ago, titan1978 said:

Especially because she was tied to the Laurelton storyline, which was considered a bust. I think she survived because she could do sexy and funny, and was believable as a schemer and the show needed those kinds of characters to keep things moving. Her chemistry with Scotty helped, and various writing teams knew where to use her- manipulative married to Tony, affair with Alan, scheming with Scotty. Lynn was also a very dynamic actor that had chemistry with a lot of people.

I've always thought it was a mistake not to use some of her dark history again in a new story. Not that the Laurelton mess was popular, but it's fertile ground to revisit that backstory sometime. Maybe a copycat, or a scheming true crime podcaster (something toyed with re: Felicia in the Ryan revisit, but I don't think much came of it).

Edited 2 minutes ago2 min by Vee